Exhibition oar



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(No Model.)

MIRAR, EXHIBITION OAR.

No. 472,300. PatentedAprp, 1892.

(No Model.) :s sheetssheet 2. M. LEAK.

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(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 3. M. LEAK. EXHIBITION GAR.

Patented Apr. 5, 1892.

@www1/tof@ UNITED STATES PATENT OEETCE.

MONDULA LEAK, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE LEAK ADVERTISING COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

EXHIBITION-CAR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 472,300, dated April 5, 1892.

Application iiled July 13, 1891. Serial No. 399,379. (No model.)

To ctZZ whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, MONDULA LEAK, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city and county of San Francisco, State of California, have invented an Improvement in Exhibition-Cars; and I hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same. v

My invention relates to certain improvero ments in railway-cars; and it consists in certain details of construction which render the car especially available for exhibition, office, and residence purposes.

Referring to the accompanying drawings for a more complete explanation of my invention, Figure l is a horizontal section of my car on the line y y, Fig. 3. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of thesame. Fig. 3 is a vertical cross-section on the line x, Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is 2o a side view of the hanging beds. Fig. 5 is a cross-section through one of the tables, showing it turned into side seats. Fig. 6 is a top view of one of the transverse bars of the table. Fig. 7 is a detail view of one of the shutters and its connections. Fig. Sis a detail ot the arrangements by which the lights can be put to the outside of the car. Fig. 9 is a vertical cross-section through the folding bed.

The dotted lines show the second position.

My invention is designed to provide a car which is to travel about the country from place to place upon the railway, said car being provided with devices for the exhibition of goods and a convenient arrangement of 3 5 eating, sleeping, and office fixtures which are convertible to one form or another for night or day use, as may be desired.

A is the body of my car, which is mounted upon trucks in the usual manner. This car 4o has windows along the sides, and below these Windows are formed recesses B, which have a sufficient depth in the walls of the car to receive such goods as it may be desired to exhibit within them. These recesses are separated from each other, made as large as is desirable, and the outersides,which are flush with the sides of the car, are covered with plateglass, so that the Whole interior of these recesses (which really form a continuous charn- 5o ber from one end of the car to the other below the windows) is available for exhibition purposes and is visible from the exterior ofthe car. These recesses are provided with electric or other lights, so that they may be brilliantly illuminated at night, a dynamo upon the car furnishing the electricity for this purpose. In order to close these chambers and protect the glass While the car is traveling from place to place and when it is not desired to have the cases exposed I employ the shutters C. The 6o frames of the glazed windows are hinged from the top and have suitable catches or locking devices at the bottom. The plates of the hinges have slots or openings made in their lower edges and the shutters have lugs or projections D, which enter these slots, thus holding the upper edges of the shutters iirrnlv in place. t

A strip D tits into sockets E at the bottom, and by means of an eccentric button or but- 7o tons F, which are fitted just above the upper edges of the shutters, the latter may be held irmly down, so that they will not be lifted or shaken from their place by any vibrations or movements of the car. In thiscondition the exterior of the car presents aseries of panels, each ot' which covers one or more ot the glazed exhibition spaces previously described. When the car arrives at a place where it is desired to make the exhibition, these shutters 8o are removed and are placed on'supports F', which extend across beneath the ends of the car and upon which the shutters may be properly stored and entirely out of the way when not in use.

Between the Windows of the car are spaces A', which may be occupied by similar exhibition-cases, or nickel-plated or other ornamental panels may be inserted at these points bearing advertising or descriptive matter. 9o

Through the walls of the car, at suitable intervals and preferably near the upper portion above the line of the windows, are made openings G, which extend entirely through from the inside to the outside of the car. These openings are ordinarily closed by Stoppers H. Near each of these openings, upon the inside of the car, spring-clamps or other supports I are fixed, upon which the cylinders .lare hung when not in use. These cylinders are adaptroo ed to exactly fitthe openings Gr` when the stoppers I-I have been removed. The cylinders su pport at one end the incandescent lightingglobes K and the Iiexible conductingwires L enter the rearorinnerend of these cylinders. \Vhen it is desired to illuminate the eareither while traveling or at other times, the stoppers H are removed from the openings G and the cylinders J inserted, with the incandescent lightglobes K projecting out through the side ot the car and visible from the exterior.

lVithin the ear, at some convenient point, preferably near one end,is agasoline orother suitable engine A2 and a dynamo by which the electric current is generated suliicient for all the lights employed upon the car. At the opposite end of the car are the kitchen and office and other needed rooms. XVithin the oflice is a lounge or sofa M, which is so arranged that it may be turned up on end and be out of the way when it is desired to use the oflice for exhibition purposes.

N is the bed, which is contained in a frame or ease hinged to one side of the oflice, so that it may be turned up or let down at pleasure. \Vhen turned up against the side wall of the oilice, it resembles a shallow book-case, and upon the bottom is fixed a desk 0. This desk is connected by a link P with the bottoni of the bed, and this link acts as a brace to support the desk when the latter is opened out. The inner edge of the desk extends beneath springs Q, which hold this edge and prevent it from moving up beyond the springs. The outer portion ot the desk is supported by the link or brace P and is in position for use. lVhen it is desired to close it, the spring Q is pressed in until the inner edge of the desk is released, when the latter is folded flat upon the bottom of the bed and secured by any suitable locking or holding device, so that the bed may be turned down in position for use as a bed.

\Vhen it is desired to use the otice tor ex hibition purposes, I employ a table R, which has a top, one side, and two ends. rllhis table is fitted into the frame of the bed and has lugs or spring-catches S, which rest upon the edges of the case which incloses the bed, thus forming a rigid support, so that the table may be used for exhibition or other pui poses. lVhen it is desired to close the appa ratus up, these springs are pressed inwardly until the sides and end of the table will slide down inside the bed-frame, and thus close up closely against the bed, when the apparatus may be folded up against the wall and leave the entire oiiice-space free.

Vithin the main part of the car folding tables T are arranged along the sides of the car. These tables ordinarily hang down closely against the side, but may be raised up and supported by the hinged braces 'I'.

The central portion of the car is occupied by the accommodations for eating and sleeping. These consist of the suspended beds or J mattresses for sleeping purposes and tables and seats which are employed during the day. The mattresses or beds are arranged in tiers one above the other, as shown at U, and are suspended by chains or other lexible supports V, so as to hang at a certain distance from each other.

The frames upon which the mattresses are supported may be made of wood oriron,pref erably of light tubular iron having cylindrical sockets IV at the corners. These sockets are adapted to slide upon the vertical posts Y and are fitted as follows: In the upper part or arch of the car-roof are fixed the short permanenthangers Z,and between these are the removable cross-bars ct, supported upon the sides ofthe arch. The lowermost of the beds or inattresses U lias an attachment at each end for a rope l), and by pulling upon these ropes the mattresses are drawn up, the lowest one being drawn up until it strikes the second one, the two being again drawn up until they come in contact with the third, when the whole are raised into the upper portion or arch before described and the cross-bars a placed beneath them. The beds aie then entirely out of the way during the day and when not in use. The lower ends of the hangers Z have openings into which the upper ends or heads of the removable postsY enter. The lower ends of these posts are set into sooketsc in the door ofthe car. Lugs dprojeet from one side of the lower ends of the posts Y, and they pass through notches made at the side of the holes c in the car-floor, after which, by turning them around beneath the pla te in which the notches are made, they are locked in place. rlhey then form a continuation of the hangers Z in direct line with them and serve as guides to steady the beds and hold them in place when the latter are let down in position for use. It will be manifest that by continuing the chains V down to the Iioor and hooking or otherwise locking them to attachments in the iloor a similar steadiness will be effected; but I prefer the use of the rigid standards, which are easily removed after the beds are drawn up into the roof of the car by first disengaging the lower ends from the locking-plates in the bottom of the car, then turning the standards to one side, which the heads at the upper ends allow, and withdrawing them from the hangers Z, after which they are stored on proper supports at the sides or top of the ear when the latter is to be used for exhibition purposes.

\Vhen the ear is to be fitted for dining, I em ploy the tables e, which are supported u pon the transverse bars or rails f, extending between eaeli two of the posts or standards Y across the car. The corners of the tableboards e are cut out slightly, so as to fit against the standards Y, and thus retain the tables in place.

The seats G rest upon the swinging supports h. These supports are adapted to turn about the lower ends of the standards Y, so as to either stand inwardly from the standards or outwardly therefrom. lVhen swung outwardly, the seats g rest upon them,so that IIO a person may sit upon these seats facing the tables e. When the tables are not needed, the seats g are set into the slots or channels f which are made midway between the standardsYin the table-supports f. The boards e, which form the table-surfaces, are then placed upon the seat-supports h, which have been turned inwardly around the standards Y, so that the boards g, standing in a vertical position, form a back, and the seats are supported upon the swinging supports h closely against these backs, and the person occupying the seats will then face outward from the center. lf desired, these seats may be provided with mattresses or cushions, as shown at t', the cushions being wide enough to extend across the full width of the space between the standards Y, and the lower edges ofthe boards g then rest upon the center of the cushion when these boards are set in the slots f to serve as a back for the seats. All these parts may be removed and neatly folded away and the standards Y removed, as before described, thus leaving the car Ventirely open for such purposes as may be desired. By these constructions I am enabled to convert the car so as to make it available for the various uses for which it is designed.

The sides of the interior of the car, in addition to the folding tables T, have recesses or shelves adapted to support jars or small cases for the exhibition of such products or articles as may be desired, and these are held in place by spring-clamps similar to those shown at I to prevent their being shaken from their places bythe motions of the car.

A car of this description is especially1 available for the purpose of exhibiting the products of different states or counties in conjunction with goods or other articles which may be desirable to exhibit in the various spaces reserved for the purpose about the car.

Having thus described myinvention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-- l. In a railway-car, a series of recesses or spaces formed upon the exterior sides of the car, glazed doors or covers by which these chambers are closed, and exterior shutters fitted over the glazed doors so as to close the exhibition-spaces and form a series of channels along the car body, substantially as herein described.

2. A railway-car having the recesses or chambers formed along its sides with the hinged glazed doors or covers, sockets made in the hinge-plates and also attached below the chambers, panels forming the covers to close said chambers from the outside, having lugs at the upper ends adapted to extendinto the sockets in the hinges and thelugs at the lower edges to fit the sockets at the bottom, together with the eccentric locking devices whereby the shutters are secured in place, substantially as herein described.

3. A railway-car having the chambers or recesses formed upon the outside for exhibition purposes, openings extending through the walls of the cars at intervals with removable stoppers H, incandescent electriclighting globes with the supporting-cylinders J fitting the openings in the car sides when the stoppers are removed, and the flexible conducting-Wires connecting with the lightglobes through said cylinders, substantially as herein described.

1l. A railwaycar having the cylindrical openings made through the sides, incandescent electric-light globes with supporting cylinders iitting the openings in the car, whereby the globes may be projected upon the exterior of the car, lexible conducting-wires connecting with the light-globes, and elastic clamps or supports'within the car, whereby the cylinders and light-globes may be supported when not in use, substantially as herein described.

5. A railway-car for exhibition purposes having a folding bed adapted to turn up against the wall or to be turned down into a horizontal position, a desk-bracket support and holding-spring whereby the desk may be opened out to project from the bottom of the bed when the latter is folded up or folded against the bottom of the bed when not in use, substantially as herein described.

6. 'In an exhibition-car, the folding and unfolding bed, in combination with a table having the front and ends adapted to slide within the sides of the bed-frame when closed up, and spring catches or supports adapted to rest upon the edge of the bed-frame when the table is to be used, substantially as herein described.

7. In an exhibition-car having an upper central portion or arch, short permanent hangers depending from said arch, the removable cross-bars supported upon the sides of the arch, the vertical posts Y, having their lower ends seated in the floor of the car and their upper ends itting sockets in the lower ends of the permanent hangers, the bed-frames occupying the center of the car between the posts Y and having sockets slidable upon said posts, and means for raising and lowering the frames, substantially as herein described. i

8. In an exhibition-car having a centrallydisposed arch, the permanent hangers, the vertical posts detachably connected therewith, the bed-frames arranged in the center of the car one above the other and slidable uponthe vertical posts,and suspending-chains connected with the lowermost bed-frame at each end, whereby a pull upon the'cliains raises the said lower bed-frame, which in turn raises successively the bed-frames above it, substantially as herein described.

9. The suspended beds and bed-frames with guiding-sockets at their corners, panels and supports in the upper part of the car upon which these beds may be disposed when not in use, standards having the upper ends adapted to t sockets in the lower ends of the too ble swinging seat-supports 7L, substantially as herein described.

ll. In a car, the convertible tables and seats consisting of the parts e and y, the supports f, having the vertical slots f', and the swinging seat-supports h, substantially as herein described.

n Witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

MONDULA LEAK. Witnesses:

E. H. THARP, A. W. BENEDICT. 

